Advice for Web Developers

We asked each respondent, "What advice would you give to Website Development Companies to best meet the needs of non-profits across the country?" and gave them a blank slate to offer their $.02 of personal advice. WoW! In my opinion, if you're part of a webdev company and can't find anything to embrace in this litany of outpouring, you should reconsider your career! And if you are part of a non-profit, I guarantee your neck will be in need of some attention from all the up-and-down nodding you'll be doing while reading this list.

Please use the comment option at the bottom of this list to offer your $.02 - opinions from both sides of the equation are welcome!

What advice would you give to Website Development Companies to best meet the needs of non-profits across the country?

cheaper
Work them through a process of understanding the difference between what they can have, and what they need and what will drive the accomplishment of their mission. Simple is good!
Offer services that support small nonprofits in creating an interactive, easily maintained on-line presence.
Clear pricing, up front. All the sales pitches of what you can do and what we need is a waste of time. I am pretty sure I know what I need. I just want to be able to afford it. CMS and all the additional modules through professional companies are TOO expensive ($10K to start ... my webmaster's salary is $70/wk and that is my entire budget).
We don's use companies. Our site is hosted & managed completely by volunteers. In 9 years of searching we have not been able to find a website development company who can meet our needs. We would require ownership of our URL and content as well as having the site on our own server.
You need to understand our climate and the ability/skills of staff to update and maintain the website. It needs to be simple. And, often you'll need to train staff on best communications practice in small to medium sized non-profits.
Free is good:-) Consider partnerships with the non-profit. If each company had one charity of choice there would be substantial monies saved for organizational mission.Most non-profits lack sufficient resources to update websites, Facebook, etc. Whatever you can do to make the process easier (ex. if you update Facebook you are automatically updating twitter, or other sites)is key.
Reasonable Cost.
Make it cheap. Make it easy. Make it stand out from the competitors. Make it reflect the branding, values and mission of the organization and its supporters.
require flexibility, technical integration options with existing software e.g. databases, donation processing, wide range of customer relationship management options, security assurances
communicate ideas and manage expectations- build websites donors can have meaningful interaction with but still fit the organization
Many charities are afraid of technology, the internet and social media. If you want to do good and help a charity - great. If, however, you want to make a living, target corporate.
Make an effort to understand the organization's needs. Usability is more important than cutting-edge design.
To realize that non-profits have big dreams and high hopes for their web presence and to manage those expectations in a professional and realistic manner -- don't promise the moon if you can't deliver it.
Understand the specific social and enterprise needs and build to suit not mirror business
Understand our position.
Be cause and change oriented. In consolation be impact oriented.
use content management systems, provide optimal in=house training for this system, be available for problem-solving
Keep the costs low and provide lots of follow-up and tech support
Make an easier on-line collaborative editing tool. Editme.com is good, but there are bugs in the editor and some features are overly complex. Make it easy to upload and insert photos, auto-resizing the photos to screen resolution.
The website architecture and interface should allow for easy content update, long-term growth and the flexibility to add visuals or graphic elements without cluttering pages. Be very specific about language capabilities of the system: mockups and beta versions should be provided in all required languages to avoid issues at the development stage.
Use open source platforms and ensure that you retain passwords and other access requisites.
Assist non-profits with web site designs that allow easy, inexpensive updating and upgrading of their web sites and regular education (not neccessarily free) on networking with other "new" technologies.
Make it easier for us! Simple, effective, reliable websites are a priority.
Let non-profits know you are a large-enough company to provide stability and leading-edge technology, but small enough to care about a relatively-small project that fits the budget of a non-profit.
non-profit to allocate one individual who is not on the board of directors to have continued long term project management of website
Train someone in house to edit/manage website and make sure that website is set up to enable changes to be made (ie not in code)
Pro-bono work!
Connect as many groups together
An organization of our size relies on the generosity of volunteers. we sepnt $2500 two years agao to completely re do our website from a plug & play ayysached to **(obscured by survey admin)** to our stand alone. All we got was the website and no training or follow up for that price.I would suggest: 1. Training 2. Webinars on benefits of social media 3. Menu and array of products and prices.
**(obscured by survey admin)** is a small non-profit organization with very limited resources. Presenting exhibitions is only half of what we do- the other half consists of sharing information about what we do. To this end a robust, dynamic web presence would be very helpful though unattainable with our current resources. Website Development Companies should develop a resource fund that non-profits could apply to for web development.
Provide ongoing services for little cost so that the website can be updated regularly, as non-profits may not have a tech person on staff or may not have the time to update themselves. If possible, provide quick and easy methods for non-tech staff to update their sites themselves (without dealing with any code or programming).
Deliver what you promise Focus on what the website is meant to accomplish- understand it's a means to an end (whether that end is to educate, inspire, connect, raise money, influence policy, etc.) Measure results meaningfully and make evidence-based decisions Understand the NGO sector is fundametally different from other sectors It will sound self-serving, but explain to clients (and offer case studies) that show NGOs need to invest and plan long term to get web success.Offer to giver a one-on-one web walk-through/tutorial with the CEO/ head decision-makers, in a non-judgemental atmosphere of ""there are no dumb questions"". Many NGO CEOs are not at all web-savvy but are also not willing to admit what they don't know. Web staff and consituents/donors will be better served if the CEO can get up to speed without losing face.
Provide tools to help non profits identify and prioritize the goals of their websites AND provide some guidance on the associated costs of designing/redesigning specific elements.
Design the website so that it can easily be maintained without professional help. Keep the design simple, uncluttered and focussed on the organization's mandate and avoid the glitzy stuff.
Help NGO's understand the most important features, best ways to generate revenue, and the pitfalls of a content-heavy site without a management plan
Learn the organization's mission, values, goals, and culture, and reflect those in the site design.Provide an easy-to-use Content Management System for frequent updating by the organization's staff. Give priority to useful content that will build a loyal audience that visits frequently. Build in social media features.
Generally these groups have only necessary staff, so without someone to take care of technical matters, and without someone knowing anything about layout/marketing/etc., non-profits really need a lot of good suggestions in making their webpages user-friendly, visually pleasing, clear and concise. Also, there often isn't a lot of time for these organizations to dedicate to website overhauls or major updates every few years, so a site that is designed for easy minor updates or minor layout changes is helpful.
I think that websites need to be more modern looking and easy to use. Should be easy and fast to find the basic information.
user-friendly so that an employee from the non-profit can be taught how to do minor updates.
focus on sustainability - how will the website be sustainable if funding changes? if there is no in-house techie? if it grows? if management changes over frequently?
Offer fair service packs (on monthly or yearly basis). Offer to trade a service for the organizations service. Expect to train staff members to do part of the maintanance or updates. Deliver manuals for all CMSs, blog-based systems or any other way of handling maintanance. Make an effort to really understand what the organizations needs are rather than offering the latest apps.
Be more accessible and put more face time (if possible) in as part of your strategy to make sure clients remain satisfied. Regular face-to-face meetings perhaps quarterly will help non-profits who don't necessarily have web developers in house. This will help ensure everyone stays on the same page.
Content management systems need to be simple to use and provide for all anticipated updates by volunteers with nominal technical skills.
Offer low-cost options because we can't afford to invest to make it better. Offer easy to use solutions because we can't afford to hire IT staff.
have a price structure that's flexible and inclusive.
Make updating easy for non-web savvy users.
When discussing technical matters, don't talk above the heads of the Information and Referral people. Have a little patience if you have to explain something twice.
Non-profit organizations not only have varying causes/focuses, but also different funding/revenue streams. Not all NPO's rely solely on donations (if at all), so there needs to be a re-thinking of how to market these organizations online depending on how they are funded.
Quote reasonable per diems. Gear solutions to volunteer staff who will have to run them.
to create websites that are easily updated and changed by not technical people
Cost is a huge factor. There are a lot of functions we would like to add to our site but the cost limits what we can do.
Have a little empathy